Mike's Alpine White 1991 318is

[iXBeater]

Wow - fantastic on all counts!

I'm getting ready to take a big trip bringing my E30 back to North Carolina - wonder if I should write something up...?

[mike.bmw]

BMW Classic CCA's The Ultimate Classic Magazine

Last November I wrote about taking my kids on an E30 adventure to Skyline Drive and Luray Caverns. I wrote something about our road trip (shocker) and submitted it to BMW Classic CCA's The Ultimate Classic Magazine. I received it in the mail a couple of weeks ago and I'm THRILLED to have taken the cover shot and have my article included in the latest issue.

PXL_20240202_180550492 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

PXL_20240202_180707853 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

PXL_20240202_180808662 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20231107-DSC_7623 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20231107-DSC_7761 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20231107-DSC_8510 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20231107-DSC_7966 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20231107-DSC_8145 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[mike.bmw]

Getting Screwed

I've been trying to chase down what I thought was a vacuum leak for ages. Replacing the failed fan clutch did help with some idle wonkiness, but on/off throttle transitions were still subpar. I miseed the peppy M42 that I used to know. Where had it gone?

While rooting around the engine bay a few weeks ago, not wanting to take the intake manifold apart for the fourth time during my eight years of ownership (technically eight years as of next month), I found the throttle body stop screw was loose and the throttle butterfly arm was hitting the housing. How it managed to back itself out with a stop screw is beyond me. I've never attempted to adjust it before.

I went to work fixing this by tightening the screw until the idle started to increase, then I backed it off a bit. Now the M42 is peppy once again! I mean, WOW! It pulls through the rev range, it doesn't bog down between shifts. It feels like the engine I used to know.

Why was it running suboptimally before? I'm assuming that the throttle position sensor was giving bad readings once the arm went past where it was supposed to. This may have caused issues with the ICV as well. I'm not really sure, but I know that the car is running really well right now.

PXL_20240201_171339227 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

And, of course, more photos.

20240201-DSC_7300 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20240201-DSC_7310 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20240202-DSC_7359 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20240202-DSC_7346 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20240202-DSC_7343 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[mike.bmw]

The same result, the newspaper will still stop a brand new fan clutch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDuGsDUiXQw

Confirmed! 😂

Thankfully the old one was bad (regardless of the test) and things are back to normal with the new one installed.

[roguetoaster]

The same result, the newspaper will still stop a brand new fan clutch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDuGsDUiXQw

Yep.

[monty23psk]

I may not be following. What are you expecting to see?

The same result, the newspaper will still stop a brand new fan clutch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDuGsDUiXQw

[mike.bmw]

Do the same test on the new fan clutch under the same temperature conditions, the result may be surprising.

I may not be following. What are you expecting to see?

[roguetoaster]

Do the same test on the new fan clutch under the same temperature conditions, the result may be surprising.

[mike.bmw]

Fan Clutch Replacement

I've been seeing some oddness with my coolant temps lately. It would run a bit cooler than it was supposed to. Not thermotstat-stuck-open levels of cool---been there, done that, have the coolant-soaked t-shirt---but a few hairs under 12:00 on the coolant temp gauge, moreso when engine braking to a stop.

Given that I replaced everything in the cooling system eight years ago aside from the fan clutch, I decided to do the "newspaper test." The clutch fan failed the test, so I clicked and bought.

The new Behr fan clutch arrived today. Fifteen minutes later it was installed. The engine is quieter (because the fan isn't engaged all the time) and the rpm dip when returning to idle is mysteriously gone. Would a bad fan clutch affect that as well?

Photos!

20231213-PXL_20231213_174424927 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20231213-PXL_20231213_173918442 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20231213-PXL_20231213_163941988 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20231213-PXL_20231213_164247641 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20231213-PXL_20231213_174907674 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20231213-PXL_20231213_180144435 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20231213-PXL_20231213_181203841 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20231213-DSC_4365 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[mike.bmw]

Skyline Drive / Luray Caverns

Last month my kids had a couple of days off from school, so I decided to take them on a little adventure. I wrote up a story for BMW Classic CCA's The Ultimate Classic magazine, but here are the cliff notes: We took the long way to Luray Caverns via Skyline Drive. There were beautiful views. My kids and I had a blast. The E30 performed flawlessly for a full day of driving adventures.

20231107-DSC_7623 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20231107-DSC_7845 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20231107-DSC_8145 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20231107-DSC_8430 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[mike.bmw]

Wow, thanks so much for putting this together. I haven't had a chance to look through the entire thread, but I'm leaning towards an E30 for my next car, and what you've done is what I'm thinking about. Do you use yours as a daily driver? That's what I'd be using mine for, and I'm curious how your experience has been. Also, what kind of shape was it in when you purchased it? (And if that info is in the thread somewhere, just let me know, and I'll hunt it down)
Thanks; great looking car!

For a while, I did drive it most days. Definitely go through the thread from the beginning, or take a look at the table of contents in the first post. Mechanically, this car needed a lot in the beginning.

[Rolling_history]

Wow, thanks so much for putting this together. I haven't had a chance to look through the entire thread, but I'm leaning towards an E30 for my next car, and what you've done is what I'm thinking about. Do you use yours as a daily driver? That's what I'd be using mine for, and I'm curious how your experience has been. Also, what kind of shape was it in when you purchased it? (And if that info is in the thread somewhere, just let me know, and I'll hunt it down)
Thanks; great looking car!

[mike.bmw]

I met up with Max at Katie's Cars and Coffee last weekend. He was stateside for a few weeks, visiting from Spain. I put together a story on BimmerLife here: https://bimmerlife.com/2023/10/05/lo...imited-meetup/

Shoutouts to getouth roguetoaster agent freeride53 and moatilliatta !

And here are some photos of Max's 318is!

20230930-DSC_1428 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20230930-DSC_1309 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20230930-DSC_1318 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20230930-DSC_1307 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20230930-DSC_1315 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[mike.bmw]

My third year at the Vintage was fun. I caravanned with these guys:

20230518-DSC_0154 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

and these guys:

20230519-DSC_0810 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

And I wrote this about the road trip there:

https://bimmerlife.com/2023/05/22/the-road-to-the-vintage-and-pizza/

20230518-DSC_0306 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Here's a gallery of shots from the weekend: https://bimmerlife.com/2023/05/22/ga...-vintage-2023/

I stopped by the Zentrum for a photo op with Jim Gerock (who also owns a '91 318is, but brought one of his 2002s):

20230519-DSC_0747 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

And our group went to the BMW CCA Foundation's Ultimate Driving Museum:

https://bimmerlife.com/2023/05/27/the-ultimate-driving-museum-kick-starts-new-exhibit-with-vintage-open-house/

One shot from the show:

20230520-DSC_0085 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

When I got back, this guy changed the oil for me:

2023-06-09_05-54-36 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Since then I've been busy writing. I did an article for B-Sedan's website on an awesome 1969 Alfa Romeo GT Junior: https://bsedan.com/blogs/b-sedan/lov...omeo-gt-junior

20230604-DSC_1267 by mike.bevels, on Flickr


And a piece on a Daytona Violet E34 M5 restoration: https://bimmerlife.com/2023/06/18/dr...-a-special-m5/

20230528-DSC_0624 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

My E36 M3 is under the knife: https://bimmerlife.com/2023/06/28/br...oses-its-head/

20230312-DSC_0817 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

And we just got back from a family road trip to the beach.

20230630-DSC_0359 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

'Till next time!

[mike.bmw]

Where did we leave off? Has it been three months? Yikes.

Next week I'm driving 500 miles to the Vintage in Asheville, NC. As part of "Vintage Prep" I gave my car a thorough detailing. So thorough that I entered it in a local concours event this past weekend and won! Here's the full story:

https://bimmerlife.com/2023/05/08/national-capital-chapter-shines-at-39th-deutsche-marque-concours-delegance/

DSC_0336 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Rewind a bit to mid April. We held our third annual Cherry Blossom Run in the Washington, D.C. area. Shocker, I wrote about it and published it on BimmerLife: https://bimmerlife.com/2023/04/20/th...s-three-years/

DSC_0761 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Rewind a bit further. I wrote an article about my friend's S54-swapped E30 M3 that took first place in last year's One Lap Of America (Vintage Class):

https://bimmerlife.com/2023/04/07/an-e30-m3s-road-to-vintage-victory-at-one-lap-of-america/

DSC_0428 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Other than that, I've been busy. Regular job, BimmerLife, tons of after school activities with my kids, car projects. Whew! The M345 (Project Concord) has been keeping me busy a well. Minor maintenance on my E30, but I'm about to rack up 1,500 miles next week. It should be a fun trip!